As a first-generation student born to Cuban Immigrant parents, I don’t exactly have a pearly view of higher education institutions in the States. On the one hand, attending University meant everything to my parents. It meant everything to me to make their sacrifices worth it. They didn’t immigrate here to live with distant relatives in a single-family home, they did it so that eventually I wouldn’t have to.
On the other hand, I went through the process of applying to these institutions alone. I know how disillusioning it is to get into the school of my dreams, to see all my hard work pay off, for myself, for them, only to be denied that claim to success because I filled out the financial aid form improperly. Because my parents wouldn’t even know where to begin with those forms. Because those institutions don’t care about you, you’re just a number to them. I witnessed some of my closest friends forced to stay at our local community college, because even though they got into some of the top schools in the nation, they’re undocumented.
Moving to Gainesville from Miami, all I can say is that the culture shock is real. I have the privilege of being a white Hispanic. The struggles of those who are undocumented or the struggles of black/brown folx are not mine. But to some extent, I do know what it’s like to feel alienated in a college setting. To feel like people don’t understand your mindset, your values, what you stand for. To hear people be openly xenophobic to my face because they thought they were in a “safe space.” A white space. It leaves you wondering who you can trust.
The University of Florida doesn’t exactly make an effort to soften the blow. ACCENT, which is the student-run speakers bureau at UF decided to bring Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is a senior advisor to Trump’s reelection campaign, to our already very white campus. The first statement they make when you open their website is, “ACCENT Speakers Bureau is the nation’s largest student-run speakers bureau, and has been bringing prominent, influential, and controversial individuals to inspire, engage, and enlighten…” Controversial is right there in their mission statement. That I can understand, I wouldn’t dare threaten free speech, but it’s about the context.
Our current administration has inflated racial tensions, allowed for separation of children from their families at detention centers, and has aggrandized the notion of the “other.” That’s not to say that these tensions were nonexistent at some point (far from that), but mass fear of the Latinx immigrant who is here to steal American jobs and promote gun violence has been greatly exaggerated. To allow a speaker who is the SON of this hateful man, this hateful man who is running for reelection in the midst of an impeachment trial, it seems like a direct attack. Like a fat fuck you to the realities faced by many students living and just trying to survive on a predominantly white campus in the deep south.
On top of that, we have a corrupt student body president named Michael Murphy and part of his agenda is to get Trump reelected. Remember the scandal earlier this year where he didn’t allocate any funding to Multicultural clubs on campus… I sure do. I’d say this is indicative of his attitude towards minority groups on campus. He’s also the son of Republican lobbyist Dan Murphy who has already maxed out on the amount of money he can donate to Trump’s reelection campaign. Michael Murphy clearly has pull on who we bring and do not bring onto this campus and persuading ACCENT to bring Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle as speakers is not only a statement, it’s a clear abuse of power.
Guess who paid for this $50,000 event? The students. A huge portion of which didn’t even want them here. Thanks to bright futures and some grants, I am paid to go to school. But that’s money I use to survive, to pay rent and buy groceries, and you’re telling me that UF took some of that money away from me to pay for someone that would be happier if I wasn’t here? The school used our mandatory student fees to empower and inspire those who stand with a family set on worsening the lives of a portion of the student population. That’s not where I want my money going, and if UF cared enough about their minority students they would know this. But they don’t care. This was a way for the Murphy family to indirectly continue to fund Trump’s reelection campaign without getting into legal trouble considering that Dan Murphy already maxed out on his donations.
Obviously, I was pissed.
I attended the protest, which began an hour before Trump Jr. was set to speak, with low expectations. I was excited to feel the unity that protests bring, but didn’t think many people were going to show up, I was worried the Trump supporters would outnumber us.
When I got there I felt relief more than anything else.
Witnessing hundreds of UF’s students of color alongside their allies allowed me to remember that for every action, there’s an opposite and equal reaction. The protest lasted for hours, students and even some community supporters stood outside chanting and occupying space on a University campus. A statement against everything the Trump family stands for.
I was allowed the opportunity to document the event which allowed me to hone in on the multiplicity of ideas and messages that people were there to protest. One of my personal favorite signs read, “If fertilized eggs are “people” and refugees+immigrants aren’t, we have a problem.” Combining two major talking points which have thrown democrats and republicans at each other’s throats lately.
On the surface, it may have seemed as though everyone was there for a different reason, but really, I think we were all there to support each other. Whether one was protesting the University’s complicity in this event, the Trump family’s discriminatory language and actions, the corruption we’ve seen from this administration, or anything else, I think our main point was to demonstrate that we cohesively exist and refuse to be silenced.
-Olivia Lafuente